


Long I Stood there

by Katherine_Queen_Of_Hell



Series: Dysphoria [2]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 3, Fallout 4, Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-04
Updated: 2018-04-04
Packaged: 2019-04-18 09:08:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14209839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katherine_Queen_Of_Hell/pseuds/Katherine_Queen_Of_Hell
Summary: Part 2 of Dysphoria.With the discovery of a new enemy in the Commonwealth, the Sole Survivor, the Courier, and the Lone Wanderer answer the call of duty to get to the bottom of a threat that could wipe out the rest of humankind.





	Long I Stood there

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know how I'm doing! Constructive criticism is appreciated!

We stand in the heat of the midday sun, sweat streaking the fabric of our clothing. Six, used to the dry warmth that envelops the Mojave desert, is suffering the most, fanning herself with her hand while Katherine and I are only mildly affected by the humidity of air. Summers in the Capital and Commonwealth wastelands are brutal, especially so considering the frequent and often damned debilitating rad-storms that blow in from the Glowing Sea. Boone, Six’s ever stoic sniper husband, plays off the heat better than his wife, simply standing there with his signature pissed off expression. 

 

Another battle won some would call the hell we're standing in, but I say it's only another mystery to solve. At least with Elder Maxson’s mysterious recovery and the fate of the East Coast Brotherhood of Steel lifted from my shoulders, I can focus on doing what I do best: getting to the bottom of things, namely these new monsters of the Commonwealth. 

 

Grimacing, I nudge a mutilated head with my foot. Can't rightly tell what this one was supposed to be. Maybe… radscorpion? Either that or it's smaller, more disgusting counterpart, the radroach. Either way, whoever is splicing human DNA with the beasts of the Commonwealth is a sick son of a bitch that needs to be put down. 

 

Soldiers and scribes alike move around us, attending to the wounded, dying, and dead. Katherine gracefully walks among them, offering kind and sincere words to those who need comfort; those who have lost friends here or are shaking in their boots in the aftermath of their first real combat encounter. 

 

Katherine’s recent and happy marriage to Maxson came as a shock to no one. It was a beautiful ceremony while remaining subtly Brotherhood style. The reception in the Boston airport courtyard was quite the sight to behold. The highlight of the night, second only to the ceremony, was when one of attending knights pointed out that Liberty Prime was wearing a bow tie. Apparently, in the weeks leading up the ceremony, Proctor Ingram had managed to fashion the formal wear in her spare time and spot weld it onto Prime the night before. That evening was one of the rare times when I caught the battle hardened Elder Arthur Maxson smiling unguarded. 

 

“Fuck this,” Six says beside me, adjusting the old Stetson atop her head. “It's been two goddamned months since we discovered this… this bullshit and we still don't know what sadistic bastard is doing it.” She gestures at the human/mutant hybrid bodies littering the battleground before us. 

 

“I know,” I mutter in response to her outburst, watching Danse converse with his unit which still consists only of Scribe Haylen and Knight Rhys, the remains of the original Recon Squad Gladius. Each time we face a skirmish like this, we suspect to find at least some hint or evidence as to what or who we're going to be dealing with, but we come up empty handed each time. “I suppose these things just play out in their own.” 

 

Six rolls her eyes, swinging her arms to loosen up the post-battle stiffness in her shoulders. I catch a glimpse of the tattoo she proudly wears in her back. ‘The Burned Man Walks’ it screams in the color of blood, on display for the moment while she stretches. She told me once that she had gotten it after she spent time in Zion Canyon just to piss off any ‘legion fucks’ she came across. 

 

Katherine comes to stand beside us, rubbing her hands free of sweat on her uniform. She's changed from her vault suit, leaving her past behind… much like the rest of us have been forced to do.


End file.
